Scyliorhinus canicula skin: optimizaion of collagen extraction using response surface methodology

Abstract

Small-spotted catshark is one of the most abundant elasmobranchs in the Northeast Atlantic Sea. Although landings are made for human consumption (rendering 10% of fish weight in the form of skin by-products), it generally has a low commercial value and is taken as a bycatch, with very high discard rates reaching 100% in some European fisheries. The reduction of post-harvest fish losses (discards and by-products) by the promotion of a full use of fishing captures is one of the main purposes of UE fishing policies. As collagens obtained from marine sources are applied increasingly as alternatives to mammalian collagens for cosmetics, tissue engineering and other biomedical and pharmaceutical uses, due to safety reasons and ethical or religious constraints, fish skins represent an excellent and abundant source for obtaining this biomolecule